IdahoPilgrim

What's Tonya Harding doing these days? She couldn't cost that much.

I will of course remain a Twins fan first, and I may look into MLB.TV, but I also like just listening to a game on the radio or watching on live (real) TV - hence my interest in following a (more) local team as well. I'll be in Pocatello, just down the road from Idaho Falls - home of Idaho State, alma mater of Jared Allen (one of my new parishioners is already lobbying me to join/start a Vikings fan club).

Have you watched the Japanese league at all? I'd be curious as to your thoughts on how the game there compares to the way it is played here.

The Houston Astros?

So basically 30 GMs around the league thought he wasn't worth a multiyear contract. And I guess I'm just a little bit skeptical when it's the player (or agent) who is telling people what a good catch he was.

It’s a ritual that happens every spring. In caves and dens around the country black and brown bears are gradually starting to claw their way to consciousness. The long winter’s sleep is winding down and once again the a new year dawns, filled with times of opportunity and times of crisis, with the chance to excel in the ritual of life and the danger of losing the battle once for all. In many ways that’s what I feel like as I head into Super Bowl Sunday. Yes, for one more weekend my attention is going to be firmly fixed on twenty-two grown men pummeling each other into oblivion. I will devoutly watch as a prolate spheroid of pigskin (artificial of course) is handed and passed back and forth and, every once in a while, touches someone’s foot (hence the name of the sport). And then, the way is clear for the boys of summer to come front and center once again. I will admit that, after the world series last year, I kind of drifted away from following the team for a while. Oh, I read the occasional story about which free agent signed and which free agent didn’t. I surfed the internet to see the reaction of the fans to this and that (ho hum!). I even put in my order for BA’s 2013 prospect handbook (it came today!). But for the last three months the Twins just were not high on my radar screen. I can of course make all kinds of excuses. I was preoccupied with my search for a new position (mission accomplished!); I was too busy following the NHL lockout; we actually had some basketball teams that were worth watching for a while (it didn’t last, of course). But the truth is that somehow my baseball sense just went into hibernation – waiting out the lean months of winter. But I feel that ending as we get close to the date when pitchers and catchers initiate the 2013 season. I find myself heading back to the Twins Daily site on a more regular basis, leafing through the forums in a way I haven’t done since November. I scour the map to find out where the nearest professional team is to the city in which I shall be living (a Rookie team 45 minutes down the road), and then looking up their 2013 schedule on the web. I read through who will be invited to the Twins camp, and I find myself looking forward in eager anticipation, even if some of the names make me cringe a little (OK, a lot). Because regardless of how good or bad the team might look on paper, regardless of the chatter on this and other sites about how many wins (or losses) we can expect this season, right now the Twins are tied for first place, not having lost a single game. Which means there’s hope! OK, perhaps it’s not much hope (although I see that Reusse, the eternal pessimist, is actually looking for an upside surprise this year), but it is still hope. It’s like every May when I brush the dust off my golf clubs and head out for that first round of golf. There is hope that this year will be different, that somehow the multiple major flaws in my swing will have magically self-corrected over the winter. It may not last much beyond the first round (first hole? first tee?) but at least for a moment I can dream. That’s how I feel about the Twins right now. For the moment, I can still dream. Forget about whether the dream is tied or not to reality – no dream is. Forget about what the landscape will look like in July. Right now we all start fresh. Spring is a time of renewal and new life. I choose to feel that in my love of baseball as well. Reality can come later. But for now I wish to rise from my baseball slumbers and look ahead to the day(season) with anticipation and optimism. For at least a time, the magic can start again.

It’s a ritual that happens every spring. In caves and dens around the country black and brown bears are gradually starting to claw their way to consciousness. The long winter’s sleep is winding down and once again the a new year dawns, filled with times of opportunity and times of crisis, with the chance to excel in the ritual of life and the danger of losing the battle once for all. In many ways that’s what I feel like as I head into Super Bowl Sunday. Yes, for one more weekend my attention is going to be firmly fixed on twenty-two grown men pummeling each other into oblivion. I will devoutly watch as a prolate spheroid of pigskin (artificial of course) is handed and passed back and forth and, every once in a while, touches someone’s foot (hence the name of the sport). And then, the way is clear for the boys of summer to come front and center once again. I will admit that, after the world series last year, I kind of drifted away from following the team for a while. Oh, I read the occasional story about which free agent signed and which free agent didn’t. I surfed the internet to see the reaction of the fans to this and that (ho hum!). I even put in my order for BA’s 2013 prospect handbook (it came today!). But for the last three months the Twins just were not high on my radar screen. I can of course make all kinds of excuses. I was preoccupied with my search for a new position (mission accomplished!); I was too busy following the NHL lockout; we actually had some basketball teams that were worth watching for a while (it didn’t last, of course). But the truth is that somehow my baseball sense just went into hibernation – waiting out the lean months of winter. But I feel that ending as we get close to the date when pitchers and catchers initiate the 2013 season. I find myself heading back to the Twins Daily site on a more regular basis, leafing through the forums in a way I haven’t done since November. I scour the map to find out where the nearest professional team is to the city in which I shall be living (a Rookie team 45 minutes down the road), and then looking up their 2013 schedule on the web. I read through who will be invited to the Twins camp, and I find myself looking forward in eager anticipation, even if some of the names make me cringe a little (OK, a lot). Because regardless of how good or bad the team might look on paper, regardless of the chatter on this and other sites about how many wins (or losses) we can expect this season, right now the Twins are tied for first place, not having lost a single game. Which means there’s hope! OK, perhaps it’s not much hope (although I see that Reusse, the eternal pessimist, is actually looking for an upside surprise this year), but it is still hope. It’s like every May when I brush the dust off my golf clubs and head out for that first round of golf. There is hope that this year will be different, that somehow the multiple major flaws in my swing will have magically self-corrected over the winter. It may not last much beyond the first round (first hole? first tee?) but at least for a moment I can dream. That’s how I feel about the Twins right now. For the moment, I can still dream. Forget about whether the dream is tied or not to reality – no dream is. Forget about what the landscape will look like in July. Right now we all start fresh. Spring is a time of renewal and new life. I choose to feel that in my love of baseball as well. Reality can come later. But for now I wish to rise from my baseball slumbers and look ahead to the day(season) with anticipation and optimism. For at least a time, the magic can start again.

Thanks all for your input. I think I am leaning toward Seattle (even though I will be in the SE Idaho area where nobody lives:)); I saw last night that MLB.com rated them the highest farm system in their new prospect rankings. Besides, I'm just used to AL baseball, and I prefer a pitcher's dual to a slug-fest.

Of course they are. Those are obviously not the people I was making a tongue-in-cheek comment about.

How is any post on this (or any other internet BB) relevant? Might as well ask, "What's the meaning of life?"

Wait - does this mean that TR is not the worst GM in the history of the game? All of the "Twins front office is clueless" posters on this website can't all be wrong, can they? Personally, I'm kinda looking forward to the hover board giveaway.

I'm asking for a little help. I am moving to Idaho in a few weeks, and while I will continue to be a Twins fan and follow the team long distance, I'll also probably follow somebody a little closer as well. Looking at the map, Seattle and Colorado appear to be about equidistant from where I'll be living. I know next to nothing about these franchises, other than Seattle is in the AL, Colorado is in the NL, and both are historically underperformers with projected payroll this year lower than the Twins. Any advice on which club would be the more satisfying to follow? Which one is likely to excel in the years to come? Thanks!

Is everybody assuming that he'll be here at the end of the year? Personally, I hope he has a monster first half of the season so we can trade him for another legitimate pitching prospect, and get a true middle infielder as well.

Actually, the way things are going, Butera has a legitimate shot to be chosen for the Twins Hall of Fame.

This thread actually gives me hope. Yes, every thing bad on this list could happen. But it's when everything looks completely hopeless that you have the best chance of a surprise on the upside. What if Hicks and Parmelee blossom this year into steady players? And Mastroianni is a steady 4th outfielder? What if the rotation gells in a way we don't expect end puts up a decent ERA? (or ERA+? or xFIP? or whatever is the hot stat these days?) What if the infield plays well enough to compete and doesn't completely suck? What if Mauer and Morneau have good years and become the M&M boys again? Will all this happen? Probably not. But I'm not going to assume that all the bad stuff will either. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm going to hold off assuming doom until at least May. And I'd be happy with a 500 team.

I remember those days. I remember when Pohlad was hailed as a local hero because he bought the Twins from the miserly Griffith. Now, of course, Griffith is remembered more fondly. It's interesting how reputations change over time.

What else do they have to talk about?

I have no trouble believing that Minnesota is not considered an attractive market for free agents, and the only way to get them is to seriously overpay (of which I am not in favor). Let's not forget what a member of Ricky Rubio's family said when he was playing over in Europe and the thinking was he was lobbying for a trade to an east coast team: "Bottom line, why would Rubio go to Minnesota?" Personally, I love living here, and I'm going to be sad to leave it when I move in February, but I was also born and raised here. As far as sheer glamour, for those who weren't, we can't top New York, LA, Chicago, etc. That's not to diss Minnesota; that's to recognize how we are often perceived by outsiders (rightly or wrongly).

Interesting how appropriate that reference is. Ecclesiastes basically teaches us the futility of believing we can be in charge of our own lives. Kinda like being a Twins fan.

Then I guess it's a good thing I'm moving to Idaho in February.

I respectfully disagree. I saw him pitch last year in New Britain, and he was lights out. Granted, one start, but of all the pitchers I saw on that trip (and I saw plenty) he was far and away the best. And AA is not that far from MLB.

That's too bad. I've heard he's a decent person, and I was hoping he caught on somewhere (other than Minnesota, of course).

An intriguing idea. I suspect that, right now, everything is on the table. They don't really know what they have to work with right now; they'll use spring training to assess that. My guess is they customize their pitching plans based on what they see in February and March. And who knows? Perhaps the season won't be as bad as everybody is anticipating? Look at the Vikings. Nobody expected them to be even close to contending, and they made the playoffs. I'm not predicting post-season play for Gardy and the boys, but it would only take a couple of the gambles the Twins have made this offseason to work out to make things interesting. Just as a rule of thumb, it's when everybody else is predicting disaster that I look for upside surprise.

September 28, 1995 - the day Puckett got hit by the pitch. It was the last game he ever played.

I guess this tells us exactly where they're at looking for starting pitching. It's going to be a long season.